Rolling Up a Different Kind of Strudel

According to Cuisine of Hungary, written by Holocaust survivor George Lang, cabbage strudel was a typical Hungarian recipe often found on the menu at tiny restaurants across the country. Filled with inexpensive, everyday ingredients like mushrooms or cabbage and flavored with caraway, the dough was usually made with lard. Hungarian Jews adapted the recipe, using oil or butter instead of the prohibited lard, and made it their own—traditionally serving it at Simchat Torah and Purim, the two holidays when drinking and revelry take place. (Cabbage has been a classic cure for hangovers since the time of antiquity.)

I first tasted cabbage strudel in the early 1970s, at the home of Israeli musician Josef Tal. It was salty, it was sweet, it was crunchy; most important, it was delicious.

These days, I cheat and use phyllo rather than homemade strudel dough. But whether you’re serving it as an elegant appetizer, main course, or even a dessert, cabbage strudel (recipe here) still makes the perfect dish for Simchat Torah.

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Joan Nathan is Tablet Magazine’s food columnist and the author of 10 cookbooks including King Solomon’s Table: a Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World.

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I’m going to try this as I’d never be able to roll dough as thin as instructed in traditional strudel recipes (i.e. until you can see through it.) I no longer fear phyllo and give it very little respect. It still comes out tasting fine even if it looks a bit “rustic”. If it tears, so what? There is always another sheet to put on top. Speaking of sheets, I also find it is easier to brush on oil or melted butter while they are still in the stack rather than after peeling off a layer. I have never covered it with a wet towel (or salted eggplant either for that matter) but I also don’t try its patience with by working on a dry day.

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